Today’s subject is Tracy Fullerton, an experimental game designer, author and pioneering educator. I will be honest and admit I had never heard of Tracy until she popped up in my inbox a few months back, replying to that day’s edition of Hit Points to say it had struck a chord with her. We got chatting and I am honestly ashamed I did not know who she was before that email arrived. Now, after an hour-long video call with her, I am amazed she is not a household name. Her impact on the game industry has been pretty significant.
By the end of this piece, I believe that you’ll agree. But let us start, as is customary with these things, a little further back.
Tracy was born and raised in Los Angeles, and had a childhood of curiosity and creativity. Her father was a self-taught aerospace engineer, and their garage was filled with technological trinkets and toys. With her siblings and friends, she wrote and performed plays; she made comic books, kitbashed inventions, made films. When computers arrived at home, naturally, she fiddled around with coding, and started making games. “I got patted on the head a lot for being creative,” she recalls.